Ellie Parker

Naomi Watts stuck with this no-budget indie over a five-year production period that saw her rise to Hollywood's A-list of stars. Watts plays the eponymous character, a would-be starlet whose attempts at getting a foothold in movie acting inevitably meet with disappointment (the fact she cannot keep an accent for long may be part of her problem). Even worse is her taste in men: she catches her first lover, a bad-boy musician, in bed with a casting agent, and then rebounds with a weirdo who is supposedly a cinematographer but also pretends to be his own twin brother. When the pair finally consummate their relationship, he belatedly informs her that he's gay and that he was fantasizing about Johnny Depp (and that's the funniest joke in the film!). Chevy Chase turns up as Ellie's agent and Keanu Reeves sneaks in a nanosecond cameo with his band Dogstar, but the focus is primarily on Watts, who tries too hard to turn Ellie into a kooky, melodramatic, vulnerable, loveable wreck, but fails to come across as anything other than an actress giving an over-caffeinated performance. Filmmaker Scott Coffey (who plays the second boyfriend) deserves some credit for getting this disappointing film completed with Watts' participation even when bigger and better projects were calling her. Not recommended. (P. Hall)